


like a kiss from the sky

by pepperfield



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, M/M, Prison, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-04
Updated: 2012-04-04
Packaged: 2017-11-03 00:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperfield/pseuds/pepperfield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fact: people don't leave Derse both alive and with their complete mental faculties.</p>
<p>But Dave's sister and best friend both seem to think things will get better for them; have both Seen a brighter future. So he waits, staring out his tiny window at the world they can't have, counting down the hours, the minutes, the seconds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like a kiss from the sky

"Okay, explain this FLARP thing to me again."

"Uh, well, it's a game, of the live-action variety, and usually you play in a pair and you challenge, um, other teams..." Tavros picks through his rice as he speaks, presumably trying to avoid the overcooked lumps. Dave, his own dinner tray in hand, watches as the other boy struggles to scrape some burnt meat off his fork.

"Here, trade. Cookie for your apple. So, what, is this like real life Dungeons and Dragons shit? People running around with fake swords and dressing up in medieval armor? Pretentious names like Gl'bgolyb the Royal Emissary?"

Aradia pipes up from her cell. "No, Dave! FLARP is way more extreme than that, and there's a lot more variety in the gameplay than you're giving credit for." She's carefully excavating a piece of broccoli from under a mound of gray mashed potatoes. "I kind of miss playing, actually. Not as much as I miss adventuring, but FLARP was pretty fun." She continues to dig away with one hand, as she pats her cellmate's back with her other. Under her touch, Sollux groans miserably into his pillow, trying desperately for release from his headache.

Across the hall from Dave, Rose turns away from her papers momentarily to smirk at her brother. Her handwritten prose is interspersed with colorful, but terrible, drawings. In fact, their whole cell is covered in chalk drawings, courtesy of Terezi. "Why the sudden interest? Tired of engaging in battles of wordplay with Tavros?" Rose calls out to him. Terezi is too busy cackling into a different paper to offer her own undoubtedly insightful comments.

Before Dave can answer, the door to the block swings open, and the guard marches Vriska back to her own private cell. Her good eye looks unusually unfocused, and it swivels over unnervingly at him for a split second. Dave is willing to bet a week's worth of apples that she's been hopped up on some new concoction, especially since she curls up on her bed instead of instigating a shouting match with Terezi.

The guard locks her in, before barking out, "Megido. You're up next." Aradia silently follows him out, with a final pat on Sollux's head.

\--

The Derse Youth Confinement Center is an ugly purple building situated in the dry, dusty expanse of the flatlands of Alternia's city limits. Dave had first seen the facility from the dirty windows of the transfer bus as it rolled slowly through the security gates. Rose's hand had been clutched in his; they weren't normally so physically close, but he was thirteen years old, she was eleven, and they were going to prison.

Derse isn't legally a prison, but Dave knew there was no way they'd be leaving any time soon, even though neither one had been charged with any criminal offenses. It wasn't like there was anything waiting for them on the outside, but at least there had been the illusion of freedom. The law had tried to play the situation up as some huge favor: after all, it was near impossible for two kids to live safely on their own in Alternia, and that's where Bro's death had left them. Two anti-social kids with nothing left but a rundown apartment full of puppets, some orange soda, and about a hundred bucks.

Oh, and psychic abilities. Can't forget about those.

\--

Rose has always been special. This isn't an empty platitude; the youngest Strider could _see_ things that her brothers couldn't. Even as a child, she would stumble upon dropped change and intuitively avoid untimely accidents. Bro had taken them out walking one day, for their daily dose of overwhelming sunshine, and at her behest they'd gone down a different road on their way back home. Minutes later, they heard the screech of metal against glass and anguished screams from the street they'd foregone. Bro had crouched down, lowered his sunglasses and looked Rose in the eye as he asked, "Did you know that was going to happen, little lady?"

Rose, just four years old, tilted her head. "It was just better to go this way."

Her visions got stronger as they aged, and soon Dave had her effortlessly cheating the other kids on the playground out of their allowance. It only seemed fair; the Striders weren't well off, couldn't be - it didn't matter how goddamn cool Bro was, raising two kids alone wasn't a cakewalk. Rose had in turn been born lucky to make up for everything, but Bro was wary of her powers. He disallowed them from showing off her abilities in public, which they fought viciously against, until the Alternian police started making rounds. Terrorism against the central government had been picking up lately, with the increased use of psychics. It didn't matter if Rose was just a Seer; any ability, no matter the strength, was enough to get someone dragged in for questioning.

So they laid low for the next few years, until the accident, of course.

It turned out Rose wasn't just a Seer after all. 


End file.
